James and Rob Robertson of Robertson Renovation think this four-bedroom, four-bath brick home is a beautiful property in a perfect location that’s convenient to everything. It’s also just the place for a fantasy update, because some upgrades and small changes could turn a nice home into a great one.

1760 Lambs Rd. $499,9000, MLS #517875

Interior finishes: The Robertsons would start with the kitchen, which they say is very functional, but needs to be updated. They’d remove the cabinet doors and change the hardware, including hinges, knobs, and pulls. They also suggest sanding and painting the doors and boxes white or a lighter color, which would open up the kitchen and give it a much brighter feel while also updating it. This should be done to the ceiling and the surrounding walls, too. In addition, they’d remove the ceiling fan and add recessed lights. Painting the exposed beams, built-in cabinets, and trim in the great room would bring it up to date. If you wanted to add a touch of depth to the beams, you could install crown molding to the inside. In the basement, remove the carpet and replace it with tile, and paint all the paneling and install recessed lighting. Budget: $3,800-19,500

Site work: The Robertsons suggest regrading the driveway and adding crushed stone, and creating a guest parking area with a new front walk. The front yard should also be regraded to provide positive drainage away from all sides of the house. They’d also add new landscaped planting beds to coordinate with the new guest parking and entry walk, upgrade the driveway, and rework all the downspout drains to be sure they are open and drain to daylight. Budget: $10,000-15,000

Exterior work: The exterior of the house could greatly benefit from a back deck and patio, the Robertsons said, because the yard is close to level, so it would make a terrific place to spend time with family and friends. The home’s mortar and cracked bricks should be patched and repaired, and the rotten gable end vents need to be replaced, as does some of the cornice. The Robertsons also suggest that the existing two-story porch be removed and replaced with a single-story, hipped porch roof with columns, which would make for a more attractive farmhouse look. After you’ve removed the existing porch, rework the front roof pitch and rafters, and install a new architectural shingle roof with new flashing for the entire house. Remove the old and worn pressure-treated deck and replace it with landscaping. If it’s in the budget, paint the existing brick and install new shutters with proper hinges and shutter dogs. Budget: $16,300-56,300

Insulation, air sealing, and moisture control: Replace all the existing single pane sash windows with new insulated glass “sash packs.” The Robertsons would also clean out the crawl space, and install poly on the dirt floor and insulation on the interior walls to create a sealed and conditioned crawl space. They’d add blown cellulose insulation to attics to provide R-38 minimum, and caulk and spray foam all voids and cracks. Budget: $15,000-20,000

Mechanical systems HVAC: Remove existing baseboard electric heat and install a new single zone-ducted heat pump system in the basement to supply the first floor and basement and a second zone in the attic to supply the second floor. Electrical: Add new light fixtures in most locations and additional lighting and receptacle circuits as needed. The Robertsons said an examination of the quality of the existing service is essential, and this may reveal additional work. Plumbing: All bathrooms need to be totally replaced, and the new bathroom layout and configuration will depend on the owner’s needs. Budget: $50,000-60,000

What’s an art collector to do about the bathroom? You can’t hang valuable paintings in there. But Don and Allison Innes—who own an impressive collection of American representational art—found a way to bring their passion into even the smallest rooms of their home. The couple, whose 1949 Rugby

In architecture, to honor tradition is no simple matter. But the land is a good place to start. Whatever materials are native to the site can become an indelible link between building and ground. Such was one of the goals at Green Mountain Station, where the Van Clief family has just settled

Any list of tastemakers in Charlottesville needs Christy Ford’s name on it. The owner of And George, an antique and home store she started with her mom, designer Jan Roden, in 2001, Ford is also a co-founder of The Scout Guide, a high-end advertising publication that spotlights area businesses.

Quick. Call a contractor. It’s remodeling season! Your intuition has long told you the best time to upgrade your home is during the warm months. And local contractor Scott Abbott of Abbott & Company General Contractors confirms your suspicion. Not only is cold ground unyielding, but cold

What does it mean to make a mark on the land? That was a question posed of VMDO principal David Oakland as a first-year UVA architecture student, and one that Oakland (and, he notes, many other architects) continues to answer as best he can. The question came from Robert Vickery, his teacher at

Robin and Mary Felder like to call their place Monte Piccolo, meaning “tiny mountain.” That’s in deference to Thomas Jefferson, whose home was, of course, the “little mountain.” And while it may not be Monticello, there’s nothing small about the view from this elevated site in Ivy; you can see

Anyone with a fondness for Staunton—its well-kept, homey neighborhoods, walkable and engaging downtown and intact historical fabric—can appreciate the appeal of living a couple of blocks uphill from the center of town. Imagine it: You emerge from your house on foot and all but roll down to

Buildings reflect priorities. In 1949, when Jennifer Greenhalgh’s house on Park Street was built, kitchens were not the centerpieces they’ve become today. She and her husband Blake bought the colonial-style dwelling in 2008 and immediately set about making the kitchen more relevant to their

Now that it’s out of fashion to put your boombox on your shoulder and parade up and down the street, how are you supposed to force your superior music taste down the ear canals of passersby? Sadly, just about the only way to spread your song-selecting genius these days is to lure folks into

As a child, architect Robert Nichols was always fixing broken things and salvaging other people’s junk. And once he started creating new objects, he became even more hooked on the process. “I loved the thrill of establishing authorship through a deliberate effort—I had evolved from a tinkerer

The earliest image Jim Rounsevell and Carol O’Connor have of their house, from shortly after it was built in 1920, includes food. The aerial shot shows chickens and pigs behind the house, along with rows of garden veggies. Almost a century later, the current owners love cooking and

It’s appealing to imagine building anew on open land—making one’s mark on untouched acreage. But one couple in Rappahannock County took on a more unusual challenge. Lynn and Pam Pittinger bought a 93-acre farm and set about adding a modern house to an existing cluster of buildings. In the midst

A graduate of UVA’s School of Architecture, interior designer Kelly Witt got her start at Elena’s, in the same building where her design studio—a stylish mecca of fabric samples and inspiration—is currently located. From there, she lends a tailored and traditional eye to homes in

With all the ways we decorate a four-walled room, one space tends to go neglected: ceilings. “It’s kind of your fifth wall,” said Ami Smith, proprietor of Charlottesville’s Embellish Interiors. “It can be a sort of accent.” Indeed, it can be a lot of things. Here are a few ideas offered by

If anybody around here understands how locals prefer to drink their beer, it’s Mandi and Taylor Smack. The proprietors of Afton’s wildly popular Blue Mountain Brewery, the Smacks bought South Street Brewery in July and hired Wolf Ackerman to help them put their stamp on it before reopening it

Everybody talks about marrying old and new, but there are different ways to do it. You’ve got your fixer-upper farmhouses, into which you can insert contemporary elements like stainless steel dishwashers. You’ve got your new builder homes that nod to tradition with way too much crown molding.

“This was a poor man’s farmhouse,” said Jen Fariello of the classic 1890 abode she shares with her husband, Chris Conklin, and their 5-year-old son. It’s a far cry from that now. Ten years after the couple bought the place, they’ve just completed their second major update, and the house is

In Fauquier County’s hunt country, the views are long. Roads gently rise and fall through open fields, passing horse barns, ponds and board fences, and in the far distance, the Blue Ridge draws a curving horizon. It feels like a place where the long vistas suggest a connection to the past. In

Do you want a handmade rug, or do want some commercially made rug? When Saul Barodofsky, co-owner of Sun Bow Trading just south of the Downtown Mall, asks you this, it’s less of a question and more of a command. A frequent lecturer at the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., and a 36-year

Staying power. That’s a quality you want in a family business—and in your home goods. Frank Eways Jr. knows the importance of both. As a third-generation rug retailer and repairer, he’s been in the biz a long time, and some 85 years after his grandfather, Salem Eways, started the company. Salem